Three anthological volumes

Vol. 1 From the Origins to Pre-Romanticism

Vol. 2 From Romanticism to the Victorian Age

Vol. 3 From 1900 Onwards

A thematic volume

Opportunity to extend the knowledge about authors already presented in the volumes.

Discussion about other authors of the same period.

More detailed information about Music, Art & Cinema.

Lists of works of art to be consulted for further reading.

Snapshots combined with Skill Activities to get the FCE (First Certificate in English) certification.

Audio recordings in mp3 format.

A piece of the Classics collection of English literature is attached to every volume and freely downloadable from the website www.capitello.it.

Masters’ Voices has been structured to provide an essential overview of the authors, within an historical and literary context, and also provides elements of comparison through references to the world of music and art. Below a list of the qualifying elements of the book.

Presentation of the historic-social situation and the literary developments of every period.

Wide selection of authors, available both in the paper volumes and in the several online expansions, among the most representative of the United Kingdom, United States of America and the greater non-European nations of English influence.

Significant presence of detailed explanations (Boxes) in the historic-social situation (History and Society), in the literary overview (Writers and Works) and in the discussion of some innovative authors.

Systematic exposition of the development of music, art - and, by the third volume, cinema - in every section (Spotlight on Music and Art).

Tips for creating links and paths aimed at the final exams (Themes and Connections).

Additional development of the contents through cross references to movies, cinema, theatre and opera pieces (Further Notes) and union of authors and genres from different ages and nationalities (Snapshots).

Audio recordings of a selection of extracts from the texts previously presented.

Opportunity to extend/diversify the didactic courses through the resources, such as the Web book and the thematic volume.

Volumes organisation

Masters’ Voices covers the development of literature in three volumes:

volume 1: From 600 AD to Pre-Romanticism

volume 2: From Romanticism to the Victorian Age

volume 3: From the early 1900s onwards

Every volume is divided into Sections, or areas of interest (nine overall: four in the first volume, two in the second, and three in the third).

Every volume ends with a Glossary of specific terms related to literature and art followed by an Index of Authors.

Every section of the three anthological volumes contains accurate references to the online expansions.

Before Section 1, the first volume presents a short chapter of introduction to the analysis of texts, Hints for Reading (Poetry, Drama e Fiction), split into two parts, with the opportunity to get a deeper understanding and further exercises on the Web book:

learning the basic criteria to carry out a correct analysis of the texts (depending on the genre);

application of the theoretical basics.

Section 9, The Colonies, the last one, is entirely dedicated to the authors coming from the greater non-European nations of English influence.

For each nation a short historic-literary presentation is provided to introduce the authors and texts, referring to the Web Book for detailed explanations, extensions and Snapshots.

The thematic volume Trends offers detailed explanations and extensions organised in six areas of interest: The Villain, Mystery, Adventure, Social Portraits, Humour and Society, Doubles. The aim is to allow the identification of alternative routes to the ones proposed in the three chronological volumes and also more suitable to the interests of the working group. This material can also provide excellent ideas for writing essays, especially if they are written following the several tips given throughout the three volumes.

Sections structure

Every Section is structured as below:

Milestones: chronological table about authors and pieces in Great Britain and other nations (European or not and native English).

History and Society: A snapshot of the historic and social development of a period not only in Great Britain, but also starting in the nineteenth century, in the United States, too.

Writers and Works: A snapshot of the development of literary genres and trends, as well as the contribution of significant authors in Great Britain and in the United States, starting in the nineteenth century.

Spotlight on Music and Art: A snapshot of the music and the art in Great Britain and United States, with an abundance of illustrations. Beginning from Section 7, the book covers the birth of cinema and its developments in Great Britain and United States.

The chapters dedicated to the single authors present their life, main pieces and extracts (Texts) taken from their most significant oeuvre. Texts are introduced by a short plot of the piece and some notes on the text; they have comments to the side (sequence of topics) and explanatory annotations about vocabulary.

Texts are combined with Activities, aimed at comprehending the text, analysing its contents, characters and/or environment and language, and expressing personal opinions.

Snapshots: relevant authors from other ages, nations or literary genres.

Themes and Connections: Suggestions for connections and creation of paths.

Further Notes: A snapshot of movies, theatre and literature pieces related to the main topics of the section.

Didactic structure and exercises

Comments and notes to ease the immediate comprehension of the text.

Significant set of exercices.

FCE tests applied to some Snapshots, that simplify retrieval paths and allow to activate excellence paths facilitating the consolidation of four skills: Comprehension, Listening, Speaking, Writing.

Guide to the reading of movies and artwork through worksheets created to help the student through the process of analysis.

Suggestions and proposals to allow the creation of customized paths and provide ideas for essays and research.

For the Teachers

Teacher’s Book

Reading sheets: Reading Visual Images and Text Analysis to guide the student through the comprehension of iconic-visual languages, both verbal and nonverbal.

In depth analysis: Extensions to illustrate the aspects of the period covered, which are different from the literary ones.

Keys and “suggested answers” of the Activities.

Active book

Beginning with the "browsebook" of all the paper volumes, the student can directly have access to all the multimedia resources that are part of the didactic proposal of Masters’ Voices.

The didactic proposal is enriched with an interesting course, usable also on the IWB (Interactive WhiteBoard), that offers a thematic area , The Gothic, present in a lot of literature and art pieces covered by Masters’ Voices. Rich of detailed explanations and ideas for reflection, this path proposes a series of interactive lessons that analyse authors and pieces highlighting their gothic element.

Web Book, the book continues online: exercices, detailed explanations, constant updates to download, consult, print directly from the website: www.capitello.it.
The traditional paper text is combined with the supplementary digital contents available online, all that is needed to accompany, integrate, extend and examine in depth the educational contents present in the text.

The digital book, complete version of the book, contains all the multimedia contents traditionally available online.
It can be purchased directly from the publisher website too: www.capitello.it, as an alternative to the paper version.
The digital book can also be purchased through a digital storage (CD-Rom, DVD Rom) attached to the paper version.

A real interactive DIGITAL and multimedia book, not a PDF to leaf through but a completely customisable digital storage which responds to the current regulations about accessibility thanks to:

more than 70 operative functions;

specific functions for BES/DSA;

continuous updates;

audios, videos, exercices, animations and in-depth analysis, all the digital supplementary contents just a click away!

MULTIMEDIA contents of the ONLINE resources and of the DIGITAL BOOK:

more than 90 detailed explanations about art, history and literature

130 Web Texts to complete and extend the didactic offer

82 audio tracks in mp3 format of extracts taken from the volumes

more than 200 pages of digital exercices of analysis and comprehension

12 texts combined with Skills Activities on the four skills to prepare for the First Certificate in English (FCE)

more than 150 pages about civilization and current events: a glimpse of the multicultural world of English language

3 books of digital reading, one for each volume, of the Classics collection of fiction in English, available in a printable format and with the related listenings

The Gothic, a multimedia interactive course usable also on the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB). The course starts with the description of the gothic from a historic and literary point of view. The book examines, through images, videos and texts, the main features like environments, themes and characters, to briefly hint at the later developments of this area, also through extracts taken from movies in the original version.